


you said you'd lend me anything (i think i'll have your company)

by ohprongs



Series: malec single parent aus [3]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU, All Human!AU, M/M, Malec AU, Pre Relationship, Single Parent!AU, im basing this on my experience of the uk school system so @americans: im sorry, magnus has all the bisexual pun t-shirts and he wears the heck out of them, more bed sharing because reasons, possible trigger: mentions of vomiting, rafael finally makes an appearance!!, remember: in this series Rafael is only a Bane and Max is only a Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:43:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7341406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohprongs/pseuds/ohprongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the 'we are the only two parents who agreed to attend the school trip’ au (with bonus “so i guess we share this hotel room?”)</p>
            </blockquote>





	you said you'd lend me anything (i think i'll have your company)

**Author's Note:**

> people who start a fic series with good intentions: me  
> people who are terrible at updating fic series: me
> 
> im so sorry!! it's been a month, again. i've been in a kind of inspiration slump recently so i forced this out, but i actually kinda like it.
> 
> title from _paris_ by kate nash

Rafael rolls into the kitchen on his glittery Heelies and hands Magnus a form.

“Can you sign this, Dad?”

“What is it?” Magnus asks, a little shorter than usual. He's has been swamped at work for the past four days. He runs a company that specialises in translating old books - putting his multilingualism to good use - and recently they've had an influx of texts. One had been particularly heavy-going, and he'd almost resorted to taking caffeine pills to get the thing done on time. 

The following day the boiler had decided that, rather like its owner, it had had enough, so he had to take the morning off to wait around for the repairman. By 2pm the guy still hadn’t arrived and the morning had been entirely unproductive, with Magnus reluctantly starting a task but half-assing it in case he had to get up part way through to answer the door.

To top it off, Chairman Meow was being pissy with him and didn’t want cuddles, and Magnus felt a little like tearing his hair out. Today is the first day he's managed to get home before he needed to pick up Raf from after school club, rather than going on the way from work, but he's still got fifty pages to get through. He’s distracted and frustrated and he doesn’t mean to take it out on Raf but ends up doing just that anyway.

“For my school trip to Idris,” Rafael explains. “I told you about it before.”

Magnus rubs a hand over his face and looks at his son. “Yeah, of course.” He has to search under a couple of notepads before he finds his pen, and when he does he scrawls his signature somewhere onto the sheet. “Hey.” He cups the side of Rafael’s head and presses a kiss to his hair. “Sorry I’m being grumpy. I’ve just got a lot to do.”

“It’s okay,” Rafael says, doing a spin on the tiles. He smiles when he sees Magnus’ expression. “I know, I’m taking them off now. I just _wheely_  wanted to.” He pauses for half a second before saying, “Do you get it?  _Wheely_ wanted to. Like ‘really', but ‘wheely' because of the wheels.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Magnus says, abandoning his stern parent face. He laughs for what feels like the first time in days, and thinks, not for the first time, that Rafael is one of the only people who never fails to make his world brighter in an instant. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” The reply is tossed over Rafael’s shoulder as he rolls through the apartment, eight-year-old dismissal of a parent’s instruction looping across the set of his shoulders. Magnus shakes his head and returns to the book in front of him.

∞ 

The phone rings, an obnoxiously loud chirp of Katy Perry’s  _Firework_  that Magnus still needs to get back at Ragnor for, startling Magnus awake. 

“‘Lo,” he mumbles, realising belatedly that he should probably make some effort to sound like he hasn’t just been rudely pulled into consciousness since it is, in fact, half past eleven on a Tuesday morning. The heavy workload he's been shouldering has hardly let up over the past few days, and once he'd come back from dropping Rafael at school he'd slumped onto the couch and dropped straight off.

“Mr Bane?” The woman on the other end of the phone doesn’t wait for his affirmative before continuing. “I’m calling from Brooklyn Elementary School. I just wanted to double check the contact details we have on file for you and ask a couple of additional questions ahead of the upcoming trip to the Institute Residential Centre at Idris Park - it’ll only take around ten minutes.”

“Sure,” Magnus says, pinching his arm a couple of times to wake himself up. “I have Rafael’s details around, I’ll just get them -"

“Oh, we have your son’s information here. It’s yours we need, Mr Bane.”

Magnus blinks heavily a few times, trying to digest this. “Sorry. What?”

“Just in case, you know. Medical information and any necessary precautions. To know whether we need to update the insurance for the trip or take on additional help from another source and uh, relieve you from volunteering.”

“Right.” Magnus thumbs small circles into his temples. He can see straight through _that_ veiled statement, but he doesn’t understand the context. What in hell’s name has he volunteered for? “Before I do that, could you just revise the details of the trip for me once more?”

“Of course,” the woman on the other end of the phone says. “We leave at seven from the school on the 27th, scheduled to arrive at the Institute by nine. I’ll email you over the itinerary - the kids have been split into groups, each with a chaperone, so you’ll need to look over where you’re supposed to be at what time and so on. The lodgings are fairly basic but it’s just for the one night. The following day you’ll take the kids to breakfast, but then the camp leaders are putting on a demonstration for all of them, so you’ll have the morning off. The buses are scheduled to leave mid afternoon and you should all be back in Brooklyn by 6pm.”

“I remember now,” Magnus says faintly. He does remember Rafael chattering excitedly about the third-grade trip to Idris Park and all that it entailed, but he can’t help wondering when he’d agreed to become a chaperone for a bunch of eight and nine-year-olds. “Am I the only parent who’s offered to help?”

He hears a couple of mouse clicks from the other end of the phone.

“Ah, no,” says the woman. “We have two other parents who signed on the form to say they'd be happy to help." That damn piece of paper. Magnus really should have read it properly before scribbling on it. "We really can’t thank you enough - it’s not possible without you,” she continues, and then there’s a pause in which Magnus tries to think of a polite way to tell her that he's simply made a mistake, and that - at this point in time - he can't really put himself forward for this. But then she’s asking him for his medical history and he doesn’t have the heart to tell her.

∞

Rafael is one of those kids who's slow to get going in the morning. Once he's woken up he's a bundle of energy, but before 9am he has to be told to do something at least twice before it registers, and at least three times if it actually needs doing. He's sitting by the front door lethargically putting his shoes on, alternating between doing the velcro and stroking Chairman Meow. Magnus stands next to him, holding out Rafael's coat.

"C'mon, Raf," he says. "We're already five minutes late and we haven't even left yet."

"Kay," Rafael says, getting to his feet. He kisses the cat's furry head and gives him a squeeze. "S'later Chairman. Don't destroy the house or Dad'll be cross."

Chairman cocks his head at Magnus as if to inform his owner that that is precisely what he intends on doing, and Magnus raises an eyebrow. 

"I'll invite Ragnor round, if you're not careful," he promises the cat. He helps Rafael into his coat and then picks up their overnight bags - a forest green rucksack for Raf and a violet holdall for Magnus - and guides them out the door. 

Brooklyn Elementary is fortunately just a couple of blocks from their loft, and they pass the time on the walk there by counting the number of cars and avoiding the cracks in the pavement. Magnus accidentally steps on a jagged line and pretends to be dramatically struck down, which has Rafael still giggling even by the time they reach the school yard.

As one of the few children who doesn’t have to say goodbye to his parents for the overnight trip, Rafael shuffles impatiently from foot to foot while he waits for his classmates to become free. To distract him, Magnus points around the yard and asks Rafael questions, like what the fence’s favourite colour is, and how long the grass has been in love with the sky. Rafael thinks for a long moment before giving Magnus very solemn answers, and he’s in the middle of wondering whether the moon could maybe love the sun when a boy runs up to him and pats him on the shoulder.

“Hi Raf!”

Magnus’ first impression of the child is blue: navy and white stripy top, jean jacket, light wash shorts and royal blue Converse. 

“Hey Max,” Rafael says, smiling. “Dad, this is Max. He’s in Mrs Branwell’s class.”

Magnus nods. “Nice to meet you,” he says, and Max grins at him. He’s missing a front tooth and seems rather hyper. It makes quite a change to the soft, sleepy child Magnus is used to in the mornings. 

“Hello, Mr Rafael Bane,” he says. He tugs on Rafael’s arm. “Justin’s over there with Aliyah, they’ve found a worm town!”

“Cool!” Rafael breathes, and now he's found his energy they’re sprinting away, but he turns back to Magnus as an afterthought. “Is it okay if I go, Dad?”

Magnus shrugs, smiling. “Fine by me. Listen out for roll call, though.”

The two boys nod and run away, leaving Magnus standing on his own. There’s a group of teachers standing around with clipboards, looking a bit frayed, and still some parents remain, clutching at their children. Magnus supposes he shouldn’t judge, since he’s actually going on the trip with his son, but that _was_ kind of an accident. 

“Mr Bane?” 

Rafael’s teacher, Mr Arias, jogs over to where Magnus stands. He seems disproportionately relieved that Magnus is present. 

“One of the parents has dropped out at the last minute, so we’ve had to rearrange the schedule for the whole day - here’s a new copy." He shoves a bundle of papers towards Magnus with an apologetic smile. “The coach will leave in fifteen minutes - we’re gonna get the kids loaded on now. If you and - um -" he consults his sheet "Mr Lightwood can sit up at the front, that’d be great.”

“Sure,” Magnus says. He skims the front page of the documents in his hands and nods. “Can I do anything to help?”

Getting the children onto the coach is something like a military operation. Several of them manage to leave their bags in the schoolyard, even though they’ve been told at least five times to make sure they pick them up. That leads to an attempted two-way flow of children down a narrow aisle made for one person only, and a couple of banged heads and squished arms later, they’re almost all seated. Magnus is waiting for the final few children to return from the toilet when one of the teachers - Mrs Branwell, Magnus is fairly sure - gestures for him to make his own way onto the bus. 

She makes an exaggerated show of ticking him off on the list as he passes by her, and they smile. 

“Where did you want me to sit?” he asks. 

“The space next to Mr Lightwood is free,” she offers. Magnus peers into the coach. One of a pair of seats is taken by an older man with a grey mustache and glasses, and he points to it, but Mrs Branwell shakes her head. Her hand gesture signals it’s the seat behind that Magnus should take, so he sits down in the allotted place and finds himself face to face with a God. 

The man has dark hair, some strands curling, unruly, over his forehead. His hazel eyes are warm and there’s the faintest trace of stubble gracing his sharp jawline. 

He blinks at Magnus a couple of times, lips parted slightly. Magnus shakes himself, recovering. 

“Mr Lightwood?” he asks. He holds out a hand, which the man takes, and God his arms are something else -

“It’s Alec,” he says, and then he clears his throat.

“Magnus,” Magnus says. "I'm Rafael's Dad - and you?"

"Max," Alec says, and Magnus nods in recognition. Alec smiles a bit at Magnus, and he swears up and down his heart does cartwheels. 

The school trip is looking up.

∞

It's really, really not.

Magnus is no stranger to vomit. He brought Rafael up pretty much single-handedly, and he himself has had one or two (or several) mornings after the night before where he can barely keep down water and vows never to drink again. But it just happens to be the case that sitting in close proximity to a sick child, who is not your own, is not a particularly appealing way to spend a morning.

At least he's not alone. Alec is looking similarly unimpressed, and in an effort to distract them both Magnus begins regaling him with tales from his trip around South America. To be honest, he's a little distracted: he can't help but be in awe of the teachers who looked at this group of snotty, wonderful children and decided that, yes, that's what they want to base their lives around, and he can't help but keep looking at the way Alec's tongue keeps poking out from between his lips. Really, it should be illegal. 

Fortunately, they arrive at Idris Park with no more sick-related incidents, and only three of the kids have to dash straight inside to use the loos.

"Something of a record," Mr Arias comments wryly, helping the last of the children jump down from the bus. 

Magnus smiles. 

They're greeted by a Park Leader called Raj who shows them where to leave their bags in the luggage room, and then they all traipse down to the Great Hall to sit through an Intro Talk. By half ten the kids are raring to go, and they split up into their colour groups to go off to their first activity.

The day passes quickly - the nature walk goes by in a blur of plants and insects and not startling the birds, and then it's on to the big field for some team-building exercises.

By dinner time, Magnus is exhausted, and it feels like sitting down to eat is the first rest he's had all day. Somewhat surprisingly, Rafael comes over to talk to Magnus in the canteen. Not that Magnus isn't filled with a rush of delighted affection that his son his leaning against his shoulder, it's just that he'd expected Raf would want to spend time with his friends. Rafael tells Magnus excitedly about the day he's had - from finding the most snails in Red Group to climbing on the rock wall. Apparently Max’s Dad, Red Group's chaperone, is  _very_ good at archery.

Magnus files that away somewhere to think about later. 

∞

“I’m so sorry!" is the first thing Mrs Branwell says when she hurries over to the table, and things that start with that kind of sentence never end well in Magnus' experience.

Alec finishes his yoghurt and sets down the spoon.

"What's happened?" Alec asks.

"There's been a mix up with the rooms," she explains, sitting down heavily on the opposite side of the table. "When I phoned to let them know we were down a chaperone they must have changed the bookings or something. They've only got one room available for both of you. I - honestly, I don’t know what to say. I feel awful.”

Magnus' heart stops temporarily, and he swallows a couple of times. It's probably far too much too soon - he and Alec only met _this morning_ , for God's sake - but Mrs Branwell looks so dejected that the rational part of Magnus is swept aside and he finds himself assuring her that it's fine. 

“We can share, right?” he asks Alec, who, on second glance, appears to be malfunctioning internally. "Only if that's okay with you, of course," he adds hastily.

Alec coughs, looks away, then coughs again, and finally speaks. 

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” His cheeks are an intriguing shade of red and, okay, maybe Magnus wants to kiss the colour away (or bring it more into existence, either works), sue him. He’s only human. "It's only one night. I can sleep on the floor."

Both Magnus and Mrs Branwell open their mouths to protest, but before they can speak, Raj stands and announces to the room that they're going out to the campfire, and can everyone follow him?

The children clamour for seats closest to the fire, listening intently to Raj's animated story-telling. One of the boys ends up laughing so hard he falls backwards off the log he's perched on, and that makes the rest of the classes laugh more.

Alec gives a chuckle from beside Magnus. They've been designated seats outside the main circle to allow the children the full experience, and it's nice to be able to watch the kids enjoying themselves. The day has been full on and all kinds of exhausting and, okay, maybe Magnus has had one or two uncharitable thoughts about a couple of the children he's met today, but really? They're all adorable, and so full of glee and innocence that it makes his heart burst. 

Especially when he catches sight of Raf, eyes bright from the light of the fire and clutching excitedly at Aliyah's hand. Magnus would give up forever to see happiness glow on his son's face like that every day. 

"Rafael's great," Alec says lowly, still watching the kids having fun. "He kept talking about you."

Magnus feels warm all over, and can't think of a response for a moment.

"Max is nice too." At Alec's raised eyebrow, he smiles. "I'm not just saying that, I promise. Although I think he thinks I'm called Mr Rafael Bane, which might need correcting."

Alec snorts and shakes his head, tone laden with affection when he speaks. "He's mentioned Rafael a couple of times, actually. Maybe he could come round to ours after school soon?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." And then, because he's feeling daring: "If we swap numbers, maybe we can sort something out?" He hands Alec his phone, but doesn't look as the numbers get typed in. "Do you have any other kids?"

Alec shakes his head, handing back the cell. "Nope. Just me and Max."

Magnus' head turns. "Oh? No wife?"

For some reason, Alec finds this hilarious, and Magnus finds his laughter infectious.

"No wife," Alec confirms. "Or girlfriend," he adds, when Magnus opens his mouth. "You?"

"Just me and Raf," Magnus says, mimicking Alec's earlier statement. "I get to be Mom and Dad."

"I know the feeling," says Alec. He yawns widely and stretches, and in doing so the hem of his shirt rides up. Magnus tries his best not to stare.

 ∞

After a bashful goodnight kiss from Rafael, Magnus settles into the room he's sharing with Alec. He picks through his overnight bag to find his PJs and, with them in hand, gestures to the bathroom. 

"I'll just -" he says, but before he can finish, Alec speaks.

"Yeah, of course. I'll...um. I'll wait here."

Magnus gives himself a talking to before he leaves the bathroom, once he's changed and brushed his teeth. Just because the man on the other side of the door is attractive and available doesn't mean he can let himself get carried away. 

He opens the door and ends up almost treading on Alec, who's arranging a couple of cushions and a blanket on the floor. 

"Whoops, sorry -"

"My fault," says Alec. He stands. "Raj dropped these off, I didn't steal your pillows."

Magnus smiles. "I feel bad. You don't have to sleep on the floor, I'm happy to. Or we could..." He shakes his head. "Are you sure?"

Alec doesn't respond for a moment, and Magnus realises Alec's gaze is flickering across his chest, reading his T-shirt slogan:  _ain't no lie, baby bi bi bi_.

"I like your top," he says, cheeks red. It's all kinds of adorable, and Magnus wonders whether maybe there might be a chance for them to have something after all.

"Thanks," he says.

Alec clears his throat. "Um, I'm okay on the floor."

"Alec," Magnus says, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I'm happy to share. If not, I'll take the floor."

Alec's gaze flits around, but he looks straight at Magnus when he says, "Okay, let's share."

∞

It's gone midnight, and really they should both be asleep, but the low murmur of Alec's voice as he tells Magnus about adopting Max is intoxicating, and Magnus wouldn't be able to sleep if he tried. It sounds like this is something Alec's been waiting to say to someone for a while.

"It was a close thing," Alec says. "You know what they're like about letting same gender couples adopt, so to let a single gay guy have a kid? No way. Mom and I don't see eye to eye on a lot, but she's the best lawyer in New York for a reason. My youngest brother was interning at her firm at the time and he convinced us to keep going with the case, even when it looked like we weren't going to win. That's who Max gets his name from."

Magnus lies in silence, digesting all that Alec's just told him. 

"It's admirable," he says finally. "You fought for him. I respect that."

He turns his head to look at Alec and finds Alec's eyes on him already. 

"Thanks," Alec mumbles. He smiles at Magnus, who smiles back. Magnus' mind wanders to his own son, how Rafael came to be his - world and soul, wrapped up in one tiny person with chubby cheeks and paint-stained fingers.

"Rafael was the best thing to ever come out of my last relationship," he explains. He doesn't want to talk about Camille, to bring the mood down and deflate. But it's true, so he says it. "I wouldn't change any of it, not if it meant that I couldn't have him."

Alec nods against the pillow, fluffing his hair. He licks his lips with that damn tongue again, and Magnus digs his nails into his palms. 

"I didn't expect a school trip to end in such a deep conversation," Alec confesses, and the two of them laugh. 

"I thought this was going to be a nightmare," Magnus agrees. "I love Rafael to bits, but spending two days with sixty of him?"

Alec chuckles. "Yep. But Max pestered me until I said yes, so what was I supposed to do?" He clears his throat and adjusts his position on the bed. The movement means the back of his hand just brushes Magnus', and the touch is electrifying. "How come you signed up for it?"

"Well," Magnus says, trying to stop his heart from hammering, "now that you ask, it's kind of a funny story..."

∞

The following morning, Magnus wakes to the sight of Alec snoring softly, burrowed under the duvet. It makes his heart go all fluttery and he berates himself for falling this quickly for someone he's known just about 24 hours. Nothing good can ever come of that.

He watches Alec for a moment longer, then decides that it's excessively creepy, considering they're basically strangers. On Rafael-free mornings he's usually loathe to leave the warmth of the bed, but he needs to do something. Magnus readies himself for the cold air and slips out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. He picks up a towel on the way, and decides a cold-ish shower might do him some good. 

Magnus makes sure the bathroom door is locked, then turns on the water and strips. He's barely been under the water for a minute when a loud beeping hits his ears, and he realises that he's left his alarm on. 

"Shit, shit -!"

He hops out of the shower, wrapping the towel hastily around his waist and wrenching the door open. Alec is sitting up in bed, hair mussed and bleary-eyed. Magnus lunges for his phone and turns off the alarm. 

"I'm so sorry, Alec. I forgot to switch it to silent before I got in the shower."

Alec rubs his eyes with the heels of his palms, and then yawns. "It's fine," he says, finally awake and looking at Magnus. 

Magnus might be a single father who works full time, but he still finds time to keep in shape, and he has never been more glad of this fact. He's never actually  _seen_ someone's jaw drop, though Alec manages a pretty good impression. His lips part and a luscious red spreads from his face all the way down his neck, hidden by his T-shirt. 

"Sorry," he mumbles, snapping his eyes down to the duvet. He plays with his hands. "I didn't mean to stare."

"Oh, it's good for my ego," Magnus says lightly. He drops his phone onto the bed and points behind him, back at the bathroom. "I'm gonna finish my shower."

Alec doesn't answer, but he does bite his lip in a way that's far too tempting for their surroundings, so Magnus hurries back into the bathroom before he embarrasses himself. Honestly. He needs to get a grip.

∞

Disappointingly, Magnus spends hardly any time with Alec after breakfast. All the kids are in the Auditorium watching some kind of demonstration, and Magnus and a couple of the teachers are accompanying them. Alec, on the other hand, and the rest of the school's staff, are loading the luggage onto the buses for the return journey. At lunch, Magnus and Alec sit at the same cafeteria table, but eat with the rest of the teachers. 

Even worse, on the coach journey back, Magnus ends up next to the grey-haired teacher, with Alec two rows behind. The universe seems to hate him, for some reason.

Magnus needs to pull himself together. He's a grown man with a child and a mortgage and  _responsibilities_ and he's acting like a teenager with a crush. Alec might have blushed when he saw Magnus shirtless, and he might be caring and funny and heaven to look at, but that doesn't mean anything's going to happen. 

The feeling in Magnus' tummy doesn't go away.

∞

"Did you have a good time?" Magnus asks Rafael as they make their way out of the schoolyard. 

Rafael nods, exhaustion making his steps wobble into Magnus' path. He's smiling, though. "Yeah, it was the best. Dad, can I have a bike for my birthday? Like one of the Institute ones?"

"We'll see." The automatic parent response slips out before Magnus can stop it. "If you're good, maybe the bike fairy will bring you something nice."

" _Dad_ ," Raf giggles. "There's no such thing." 

"How do you know?" asks Magnus. "The tooth fairy's real." He's going to hell for outright lying to his son, he knows that.

"Mm." Rafael hums to himself for a few steps, and then pipes up with, "Are you going to marry Max's dad?"

Magnus trips over his own foot. "What on earth gave you that idea?" he asks, once he's recovered.

"We saw you in the canteen," Rafael says. "You were looking at each other like the grass and the sky." He shrugs. "It's okay if you do. I like Max. I'm happy for him to be my brother." There's a pause in which Magnus tries to make sense of what's happening. "But I don't want to share my bike with him. You'll have to get him one of his own. Or whatever he wants, of course."

"Of course," Magnus says, staring down at his son. He stops in the middle of the street and after a couple of paces Rafael realises, and turns back.

"What?"

"Nothing." Magnus crouches down and holds his son tightly. "I just really love you, you know that?"

Rafael wraps his arm around Magnus, face burrowed in his neck. "Yep. I love you too."

They walk the rest of the way home in silence, Rafael occasionally running ahead to look at something. As they walk up the stairs to their loft, Magnus asks, "So what else have you and Max been planning, then?"

Rafael grins at him. "Oh, well. First, there's..." He leads into a detailed explanation of how they're going to build a treehouse together in Prospect Park (even though they're not really sure it's allowed), and Magnus just marvels at the little bundle of light he made. He kisses Rafael's nose, and then pulls out his phone, looking at Alec's number.

He opens a new message, and the screen shows three little grey dots that mean Alec is already typing something out to him. Magnus' heart skips, and he smiles at Rafael, who smiles right back at him. Now he's moved onto explaining the rocket launch pad the treehouse will have, and Magnus can't help but wonder how his life got so perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> im on [tumblr](http://lesbianclaryfairchilds.tumblr.com)!


End file.
